Gender and contemporary art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Gender and contemporary art - Essay Example The essay "Gender and contemporary art" discovers the gender in the context of contemporary art. If one pays attention to the historical development of art, it is possible to see that gender pays significant role in paintings, sculpture and other kinds of art. For example, in medieval art male and female nude figures had special sense, and our perception of these masterpieces occurs through the gender realization. Male nude figures were associated with heroics, family fathers and often - with real historical characters: â€Å"The idea of the heroic male nude continued well into the 19th century; here Napoleon, who certainly wore a fabulous uniform on the field of battle, is sculpted like a nude Greek god. Perish the thought that his nudity has any sexual resonance†. ). Nude female figures were associated differently in different times and epochs: they were symbols of sexual desire, fertility, motherhood, family and so on . So, gender plays significant role in art of all histor ical periods, and our time is not exception from this point of view. What is the role and context of gender in contemporary art? This paper will explain the answer in the next parts. . There is an idea and opinion that the role of gender in contemporary art is important and significant, and people often behold modern art masterpieces with gender idea realization. This idea is interesting and controversial. It is increasingly important in this age of numerous varieties of contemporary art forms and numerous approaches.... Many people believe that there are no gender differences in contemporary art, and that the gender idea in art is more inherent for ancient and medieval art, but these people overlook the fact that in many modern art masterpieces this idea is rather appreciable, and we as humans cannot ignore the gender idea in such significant kind of our activity as art. Furthermore, there are some art branches today which pay appropriate attention to the gender differences or in contrary the gender similarities, and many artists underline these ideas in their works of art. In this essay, I will argue that the role of gender in contemporary art is important and significant. Gender context of contemporary art, as well as gender differences in contemporary art of some regions will be also discussed. 3. Today the gender context of contemporary art is under influence of feminist approach to art. Modernism in contemporary art assumes that an artist uses freedom in his or her artistic experiments, but female artists today are not inclined to underline their female identity in visual art: "Even though modernism seemed to offer artists more freedom and autonomy, for women artists this meant the denial of their gender identity whereas the whole history of modernist art can be interpreted as the glorification of male creativity and sexuality" (Kivimaa K., 2000). Many artists today assert that there is "male art" and "female art". In other hand, there is a tendency of unisex in contemporary art. In this sort of art gender attributes are mixed, and women and men are demonstrated in unusual roles: "The principle of mimesis could be an effective tool for undermining various kinds of stereotypes, and it is